Playing Chicken...

This column was written late Tuesday to be published Wednesday, and assumes that Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh, leader of the Highway Re-Route Movement on his (now) seventh day of hunger strike is still healthy enough to go on, and that Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar is sticking to her about face on the issue regarding the stretch of contentious highway behind the protest. Demonstrating a misunderstanding of when to use statesmanship and when to employ brinksmanship, the Prime Minister is playing a silly game of chicken with the good doctor, trusting him to lack the courage of his convictions rather than act in the best faith of her Office and of all the people of Trinidad & Tobago. For their part the protesters are simple country folk challenged by a behemoth of a bloated government bent for some reason on extracting a highway at a still cost we can little afford on behalf of a few who still do not need what is being built in their name. Many have questioned the real reasons for this highway and perhaps that may be reason for another discussion; others still have compared it to the Piarco Project, the last grand scheme of another version of this same party and what that one was really about. I do not know as of this writing if there are ulterior motives for this highway or if others are using it to milk the treasury once again, what I DO know is that we live in a country governed by laws based on the rights vested in the citizenry, rights that ought not to be easily trifled with or trampled upon ever in the name of government or progress. These people are simply asking that we leave their homes and communities alone and find another way to do what it is the government is trying to do in all of our name, a simple enough request if you ask me and one that all one point three million of us should be willing to stand behind. It is a slippery slope this rights thing, last year it was a state of emergency against the people of Nelson Street, this year it is an assault on the people's right to peacefully enjoy their property, next year government boots could make our democracy go away altogether.

What the health Minister was sent to offer Dr. Kublalsingh he already had, the choice and the means to save his own life. What he did not bring was the Prime Minister's best wishes, her compassion, and a promise to halt all work until the conclusion of arbitration between both sides; had she sent someone other than the generally liked and amiable Fuad Khan they might have gotten more than a good cussing for the insult.

Playing vinegar to Fuad's honey (this government's now trademark move) UNC blowhard Roodal Moonilal's attack on the good doctor shows his lack of maturity, self awareness and how much he could benefit from the mantra - “it is better to stay silent and have people think you stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”  Calling names and taunting is so un-Ministerial I am loathe to even refer to it here.

What is shameful is that if Patrick Manning was in power today Kamla, Prakash and Warner would have been there washing Kublalsingh's feet, championing the cause. We have strayed from good governance into questionable territory and common sense needs to prevail to save this man's life, a good man clearly intent on sacrificing himself if that is what it takes to change how we treat with each other. The people deserve to have their rights and homes respected as guaranteed under the Constitution, the guarantor of the faith on which they built their lives in this country. If what we want to leave for our children is a democracy where the rights of all people continue to be respected then we the people of Trinidad & Tobago must stand with one voice and say so.